SAN DIEGO — It seemed fitting when Blink 182’s Tom DeLonge strolled into the stands during a live eighth-inning performance Tuesday night and invited the 47,744-strong crowd at Petco Park to join him in a sing-along, which turned into a celebration. song on 19 Tony Gwynn Dr.
The Dodgers had a big blast, but the Padres did all the little things.
They poured in when they were given more opportunities, they fit well in the bullpen with Game 3 of the National League Division Series remaining and, most importantly, they played defense and their teammates did not win 6-5 which again put the San. Diego on the road to send their division-winning rivals home early in the postseason.
But for all the similarities to 2022, all the feelings of euphoric déjà vu in the Gaslamp district, this year feels different. If the Padres finish at home on Wednesday, it won’t surprise anyone the way they did two years ago when their 89-win team defeated the 111-win juggernaut Dodgers.
This time, the Padres didn’t sneak up on anyone.
In this respect, they are a timeless unit with few, if any, glaring weaknesses.
In this case, they might be the best team in the entire playoff field.
“The way we play,” said Fernando Tatís Jr., “I see us playing much better.”
The Padres’ right fielder was already off to his best postseason start ever — his 2.151 OPS through four playoff games entering Tuesday was the highest of any player with at least 18 plate appearances — when he delivered a pitch, a backbreaking two-run home run. sent Petco Park into chaos and turned a snowy second inning for Walker Buehler and the Dodgers into a complete disaster.
Buehler’s box score looked awful: five innings, seven hits, six runs (all earned), one walk, no strikeouts. But neither his last line nor his fiery walk off the field after the disastrous frame, which ended with him throwing his glove and various objects into the Dodgers dugout, painted the full picture of his exit.
All six of San Diego’s runs on Tuesday night came on hits that could have been avoided if Buehler had been protected by his backup.
This is the danger of a banged-up infield against a heavy contact offense that cannot be avoided. The Padres have tallied the fewest strikeouts and most hits in a game and have 10 walks this year. They will put the ball in play. And on Tuesday, they made the cash-strapped Dodgers pay.
“When you give a good team an extra chance, it’s hard to throw zeros,” manager Dave Roberts said.
With Manny Machado on first, Jackson Merrill drew a grounder that forced Freddie Freeman, who was nursing a badly sprained ankle, to dive to his right. Freeman’s knee-jerk throw to second base bounced off Machado, whose spin route crossed a clear path, and into left field.
The most dangerous error, however, came one batter later when Xander Bogaerts hit another ball into a potential double play. Shortstop Miguel Rojas, whose adductor strain eventually forced him out of the game before the end of the night, decided to run to the bag himself to attempt a double instead of going to second. Both runners were safe, and the Dodgers’ thrilling first inning — something the club’s lackluster lead hasn’t had in a postseason game since Game 1 of the 2022 NLDS — was gone.
David Peralta, a former Dodger and the unsung hero of the Padres’ two-game series win, followed by pulling a fastball in and out of the plate for a two-run home run. Jake Cronenworth hit an infield single. At that point, there were only two balls left in the infield and the Padres had put together three runs.
Buehler would rebound with a sac fly and a popout when he made his only glaring error of a disastrous inning, leaving an 0-2 fastball in the nitro zone of the postseason’s hottest hitter. Tatís, 10 of 18 with four homers this October, didn’t miss a beat.
“Man, when I hit it, I don’t know, I just blacked out, I started screaming in my hole, just the power through the roof,” said Tatís.
The past two games have shown a variety of ways this iteration of the Padres can win games and cause matchup problems.
Even without Joe Musgrove, they have pitchers who can spin gems, as Yu Darvish did with seven innings of one-run ball in Game 2. Sunday night’s off-field antics at Dodger Stadium raised the temperature of the series, too. took the focus off the actual results of the contest, which was a complete rout by the Padres offense that became the first team in MLB history to hit six homers in a road playoff game.
They can win in bunches, but they can also destroy a player’s will by putting ball after ball in play, the way they did when they went around Tuesday in a six-run attack. It’s a heavy list that’s equipped to cause damage, even if the top three-hitting champ isn’t producing.
“You see every night, it’s a different guy that gets a big hit or makes a big defensive play or makes a big pitch when we need it,” Jake Cronenworth said. “Whatever it is, I think that’s what makes this team so special. It’s not just one or two people who carry us, it’s a united team. Everyone depends on each other.”
And if that offense gives up a lead in the middle innings, there may not be a more formidable bullpen in sports.
After general manager AJ Preller made aggressive moves to acquire relievers Tanner Scott, Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing at the deadline, the Padres’ pitchers ranked in the top five in the majors in ERA, strikeout rate and batting average to you’ve been gone for a whole year. . They played a key role in last season’s success for a Padres team that had the best record in baseball after the break.
Now, compared to the top threats, the bullpen is even more terrifying.
On the rare occasions when a starting pitcher falters, as Michael King did in Game 2, allowing senior Teoscar Hernández to cut a five-run lead to one, that team behind him is a steady presence. Jeremiah Estrada, Adam, Scott and closer Robert Suárez supported King by combining to allow just one runner to walk.
“This is a family here,” said Estrada, who, in a career year, gave up his eighth-inning role for a slim chance of getting a deadline extension. “I was like, ‘Look, guys give me a chance. That’s all I wanted, just a chance to show you who I can be. I’m going to give you the best. These guys come in, that’s the extra help.
When Suárez is right — after a shaky end to the season, the Padres stuck with him in a ninth-inning role, and he’s rewarded them with 3.1 scoreless frames this postseason — the bullpen is at full strength. But the Padres won’t need a reliever the same way the Dodgers will in Game 4, and the club is one loss away from its third straight first-round exit at the hands of a lower-seeded division. the enemy.
For the Dodgers, Tuesday’s loss included some silver linings.
Mookie Betts, hitless in his last 22 at-bats of the season, entered the night, homering in the opening frame on the same deep pitch that Jurickson Profar hit him in the previous game. After the first round, Betts was close to the pitcher’s mound when he returned to the dugout thinking he had been caught before returning to the basepath and continuing to play. Luck hasn’t been on his side lately, but maybe it’s turning around after three nights. Getting Betts will be crucial to the Dodgers’ survival.
After the blow-up inning, Buehler bounced back to hold the Padres scoreless over the next three frames. In the fifth inning, Roberts visited the mound after Machado’s single but allowed Buehler to walk on. After a wild pitch to Jackson Merrill moved Machado to second, the Dodgers intentionally walked the star with a 1-1 count. Leaving Buehler in the middle, and giving up a free pass, paid off, as Buehler escaped the inning unscathed.
That’s been a bit of a stretch for the Dodgers reliever, with bullpen play on tap to keep their season alive and avoid being on the wrong side of another rollover celebration at Petco Park. The Padres plan to start ace Dylan Cease, who threw 82 pitches while going 3.1 innings in Game 1 on Saturday, on short rest.
“It’s not a good situation,” Roberts said. “But as far as winning a football game tomorrow, I think we’re in a really good place.”
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